Nick: "..."

This brat... in that case, he should have gone ahead on his own instead of exhausting Silvanus to this extent.

Nick didn’t understand why Neo looked so much like Silvanus, but he truly couldn’t bring himself to like the boy. His instincts were always accurate, and he had always sensed something unusual about this timid child.

However, right now, the only person Nick was concerned about was Silvanus.

"Silvanus, are you really okay?"

Silvanus gripped Nick’s sleeve tightly. As he brushed past him, he spoke in a weak yet firm voice.

"Don’t eat this breakfast."

Nick couldn’t help but stare at Silvanus in surprise. Yet Silvanus had already let go of him and continued walking forward, as though the person who had just spoken those words wasn’t him at all.

That warning was all Silvanus was willing to give. Up until now, he could still sense Nick’s goodwill. But if Nick chose not to listen, there was nothing more he could do.

By this time, everyone else had already taken their seats at the dining table. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

Daniel stared in astonishment at the golden roasted pig on the table. His eyes were filled with undisguised greed, to the point that drool was practically about to spill from his mouth, completely ruining his usual composure.

He had almost entirely lost the air of the elite lawyer he normally carried himself as.

Jax was no different. His gaze remained uncontrollably fixed on the table, so much so that he nearly tripped. His pride seemed to have been thoroughly trampled beneath the feast before him, and he couldn’t have cared less.

At this moment, no one paid attention to waiting for anyone else, nor did they care about any sort of dining etiquette.

There weren’t even any knives or forks in front of them, only a single plate each. The moment he sat down, Jax lunged forward without hesitation and tore off one of the pig’s massive legs with his bare hands.

Daniel wasn’t any slower. The pig, which should have required a knife to carve, was torn apart effortlessly, as though it hadn’t been roasted at all but had instead been stewed for a very long time, until the meat had become so tender it practically fell apart.

"Get lost, you glutton!"

Daniel frowned and shoved Jax slightly, cursing under his breath. Jax clutched the large leg in his hands, his eyes wide as he glared at Daniel, his mouth buried in the meat as he continued chewing and swallowing without pause.

Daniel couldn’t even be bothered to care about that murderous glare and simply hurried to begin his own breakfast.

As strands of meat were torn away, clouds of steaming heat billowed outward, and the rich aroma in the air grew stronger and stronger.

"Grrk..."

Nick pressed a hand against his uncooperative stomach, secretly swallowing his saliva as he looked toward Daniel and Jax.

Silvanus calmly placed some meat onto his plate. The sensation of hunger seemed to be tormenting him as well, to the point that he could even feel a dull ache in his head, as though something were relentlessly poking at his brain.

He brought a piece of meat to Neo’s mouth and said softly,

"Neo, aren’t you hungry? Eat."

Neo raised his head, meeting Silvanus’s gaze. Though weak, those eyes were incomparably gentle. Silvanus felt irritated, but there was no way he could allow his child to go hungry.

Neo pursed his lips and crossed his arms, his expression stubborn.

"If Daddy doesn’t eat, then I won’t eat either."

He looked deeply worried about his daddy. He even thoughtfully began rubbing Silvanus’s stomach, the picture of a devoted son. To anyone else, it might have seemed like the very image of a harmonious father-son relationship.

Only Silvanus found it utterly ridiculous.

Of course this thing wasn’t eating the meat. It knew there was something wrong with it. What father-son affection was there to speak of?

Just look at Daniel and Jax. The two of them had almost forgotten who they were, resembling pigs with their heads buried in food as they tore and chewed at the meat.

"Silvanus, are you feeling unwell?"

At that moment, Elya’s concern finally arrived.

Silvanus looked at her and gave a slight nod.

"My stomach feels a little off. This always happens when I’m too stressed. I couldn’t sleep at all last night. This place is too strange. I’m starting to regret accepting the invitation..."

As he spoke, he glanced down at Neo and continued softly,

"Especially since I brought him here with me."

He genuinely looked filled with regret.

Then he lifted his gaze again and offered the others a faint smile.

"You all seem remarkably composed, considering everything. I wish I could be as strong as you are."

Elya adjusted her glasses and smiled reassuringly.

"You only wanted Neo to have a better life. There’s no need to blame yourself."

Silvanus seemed somewhat comforted by those words. Looking at Elya, he asked seriously,

"Have any of you thought of a way to wake Lord Lethos? At the moment, that’s the only clue we have for getting out of this place."

Jax suddenly let out a cold laugh.

He lifted his eyes and looked at Silvanus with disdain before turning to Elya and Nick.

"Why bother caring about him? He’ll struggle to stay alive, sure, but our job is simply to survive for seven days. That’s your mission too, isn’t it? Now the time limit’s been shortened to six days. As long as we don’t do anything stupid or offend whatever rules exist here, we’ll survive. Don’t tell me you’re actually planning to follow an NPC and risk your lives? Idiots."

Elya adjusted her glasses but said nothing.

As for Nick, it was as though he had suddenly been jolted awake.

He looked at Jax, then turned toward Silvanus. Seeing Silvanus tilt his head slightly, his eyes filled with confusion, as though he couldn’t understand—or perhaps hadn’t even heard—a single word Jax had said, Nick felt a sharp pain twist through his heart. It hurt far more than any attack he had ever suffered in the past.

Silvanus and them...

Silvanus and him were different.

Nick had come from another world and become what was called an Artist. If he survived, he would leave this place. Though his own fate remained uncertain and the future was still unknown, at the very least, he would continue living.

But Silvanus...

He was only an NPC.

No matter how everything ended, he would remain here forever.

If this dungeon came to an end, what would happen to Silvanus?

Would he be buried forever alongside this discarded script?

They were standing so close to each other, yet for the first time, Nick realized the distance between them.

They did not belong to the same world.

He should have remained calm and rational enough to recognize that Jax’s words were the logical ones.

But he...

Would he really abandon Silvanus?

Could he actually do that?